The consumer electronic devices that are so popular today, such as cellular telephones, personal data assistants, personal video players, global positioning systems, and hand held video games, utilize programmed memory devices in order to operate. When these devices are assembled, the information that will reside in the memory must be programmed by a device programmer. Typically many such device programmers may be used by contract manufacturers that may perform the assembly of the consumer electronic devices under the direction of the original equipment manufacturer.
The original equipment manufacturers of electronic products are increasingly concerned about how they can protect their intellectual property (IP) from unauthorized disclosure or other use. While data security and encryption techniques have been available for various data communication applications, data protection has heretofore not been applied to the programmable content of integrated circuit devices.
Today, most of an original equipment manufacturer's IP may take the form of data stored in non-volatile semiconductor memories and controllers residing inside the firm's products. Device programming, or “flashing” as it is often called, is a manufacturing process whereby the original equipment manufacturer's IP is encoded into the semiconductor device inside the final product.
The programming process has largely been uncontrolled and therefore subject to human error resulting in frequent rework due to the use of the wrong data file, mistakes in setting up the process, and mistakes in handling failed devices. The process often lacks integrity in that there is no closed-loop method to ensure configuration control or demonstrate traceability.
Further, the original equipment manufacturers do not have a known-secure means to protect their IP as it is transferred from their location to the remote manufacturing locations and to the final destination inside the programmable devices of the firm's products. The inappropriate use or disclosure of the IP may represent a loss of millions of dollars to the original equipment manufacturers.
Pirated versions of the IP may be used to produce unauthorized models of popular electronic devices. For example, a Computer Crime and Security Survey by the Computer Security Institute and the Federal Bureau of Investigation found that the most serious financial losses occurred through the theft of proprietary data with losses of over $100 million reported.
Protection of proprietary data refers to design code, device memory image files, public and private keys, serial numbers, or other unique information that is ultimately transferred into a programmable device either before or after the integrated circuit device is mounted on a printed circuit board. The printed circuit board will ultimately reside inside the electronic product that is assembled by the contract manufacturing company.
In order to be programmed, the proprietary data must usually be rendered into a format that can be used by the device programming equipment and somehow transferred to the programming site. This format is typically in the form of a device memory image file and transport mechanisms can be anything from physical transport of data media, such as removable disks or solid state memory sticks, containing the device memory image file or electronic transfer via email or other mechanism over data networks.
Once delivered to the programming site, the proprietary data is often stored for use until the programming job is run. Since production may take place over many days, often interrupted by production for other products, the proprietary data must often be stored at the programming site in between production runs leaving it exposed for unauthorized use or mishandling.
These processes of transporting and storing the proprietary data present many opportunities where it can be intercepted and copied or modified by unauthorized parties. Once the proprietary data have arrived at the programming site, there is an additional problem in that the data and programming equipment may be used for unauthorized production of devices and products that use the proprietary data.
Despite all of the efforts taken to control the dissemination and usage of proprietary data, it is still possible for programming equipment or the programmable device to malfunction resulting in non-operational integrated circuit devices that must be discarded as scrap. Falsified reports of scrap or lost devices provide one possible way to conceal unauthorized use of the proprietary data.
The IP owner requires the capability to remotely monitor production activity and received post-production audits to confirm the appropriate use of the proprietary data. It is difficult to monitor that only authorized copies of the proprietary data were used and production quantities of the integrated circuit devices programmed with the IP were produced as established by the IP owner.
Local and multi-national companies and contract manufacturers dispersed around the globe routinely share the IP owner's proprietary data as a matter of routine production flow. IP owners historically have not had a means to secure and maintain full control of their intellectual property that is transferred into programmable integrated circuit devices.
Thus, a need still remains for an integrated circuit programming system with secure data management. In view of the increasing concern about unlicensed products and inappropriate use of proprietary data, it is increasingly critical that answers be found to these problems.
In view of the ever-increasing commercial competitive pressures, along with growing consumer expectations and the diminishing opportunities for meaningful product differentiation in the marketplace, it is critical that answers be found for these problems. Additionally, the need to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and performance, and meet competitive pressures adds an even greater urgency to the critical necessity for finding answers to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.